A Few Things I Dislike About You
by Jinnis8
Summary: When college sophomore Katniss Everdeen tells her sixteen year old sister that she cannot date alone, Prim begins concocting a double date that Katniss won't be able to turn down. What happens when Katniss finds out that the boy she opened herself up to was only there because of a deal he had made with Prim? Will Gale Hawthorne use the dating rule to his advantage?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

A sharp stinging pain threatens to crack my skull open every time I hear the high pitch whine coming from Prim's room. I sigh and sink down the wall in the hallway. Sixteen is too young to date. Prim has been bugging me non-stop for two weeks to allow her to date Rory Hawthorne. Rory, the younger brother of Gale Hawthorne, seems to be a decent enough kid but knowing his older brother the way I do makes it hard for me to let her go. I don't want Prim to be hurt. If Rory is anything like his older brother then there could be trouble.

I hear a new sob tear out of Prim which sparks another wince and a sigh from me. If she wants to date him this badly, maybe she really cares about him. Most fifteen year old girls only want to date for status symbols. I know Prim is beautiful and so far she has stayed away from the popular girls at school. There's always a clique of kids that are shallow and beautiful and I never want Prim to discover the inhumane delights of being popular and worshiped.

I push the door to Prim's bedroom open quietly.

"Go away!" She yells at me. She is huddled up on her bed facing the wall with her pillow clutched in her arms.

I ignore her and sit down on the edge of her bed. I don't say anything and neither will she look at me. I wonder if our mother can hear this conversation from where she also lays in her bed.

I clear my throat. "Look, Prim….how about we make a," I pause to find the right word. "…a deal…of some kind?"

Prim rolls onto her back and stares at the ceiling. Tears drip onto the bedspread beneath her. This is her sign that she is listening to me.

"What if I let Rory come over here? He can come over whenever he wants as long as your homework and chores are done."

A sniffle comes from Prim but nothing else so I take a deep breath and continue. "He can come over and as long as your bedroom door stays open, he can visit until 10 o'clock on weekdays and 11 o'clock on weekends."

Prim speaks in a harsh voice, jagged from crying. "Won't that make me like a hospital patient with visiting hours? Rory will think I'm such a baby and move on to another girl who is allowed out of the house."

"Then he must not really care about you if he would give you up simply because he was asked to keep your dates in your bedroom," I point out.

Prim starts crying all over again but this time she sits up in bed, he blonde hair wet at the hairline from where the tears were soaking in.

"I wouldn't blame him, Katniss! Who wants to come here to visit me? With a mom who can't socialize and a sister who won't? I'll be the freak who has to be visited like some mental patient who isn't allowed to leave the ward. They'll start thinking of me as a whore who has boys visit her bedroom to have a turn."

I hadn't thought of that. If she decides to date a different boy, then it would start to look a bit scandalous.

"What do you suggest? I really don't want you dating. There's no point to dating at sixteen except to-"

"-prove to others that you are 'open for business'," Prim says this part along with me because she has heard me say it so much that she memorized it.

I shift a little on the bed and wait for her to answer.

"Let me date Rory. Just Rory. Why can't that be our deal?" Prim looks at me with her blue eyes and I hope she will always be so pure of heart that she won't ever understand what a weapon her eyes can be.

"That's not much of compromise," I tell her to which she responds with offers of curfews and dates only on weekends to approved places none of which appease me.

"Just because I know where you are and who you are with doesn't mean I know what you are doing. It also doesn't control who else is there."

"You can't always know what I am doing, Katniss. Not unless you have crystal ball that you spy on me with," Prims says a little too sharply.

"If I agree to let you date with the condition of me being there as well, will that appease you?" I already hate the thought of being forced to go somewhere as a chaperone on Prim's dates. Finding places to date where it won't make me feel like a third wheel or a creepy stalker.

A smile tugs at Prim's face. "Really? You'd let me go on a date as long as it's a double?"

"I never said anything about it being a double date!" I say hurriedly. Panic starts rising up in my chest.

"How else do expect to be on a date with me?" Prim says distractedly. She claps her hands together happily, already planning her outfit, no doubt.

I feel a sinking feeling in my gut. I can't take it back now. Not with Prim so excited. I also know way deep down that it's unrealistic to think I can keep Prim from dating. If I don't allow it, she could start doing it behind my back. Since I can't stand neither the thought of Prim crying all the time or her sneaking around to date, swallow my pride.

"You can date if I go with you but I am warning you, it will take quite a bit to tempt me to come of a date."

Instead of getting upset again Prim smiles at me with a gleam. "Oh I know. I'll think of it as a challenge."

I watch her lunge to the bedside table for a telephone and I quickly leave her room.

What have I done?


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

It's been a week since I made a deal with Prim and I am starting to get nervous. I told her she could date if I was there with her. She took it to mean that it would be a double date. The longer she is quiet the more anticipation I feel.

I hate dating. The whole dating scene is so unnecessary. First you start doubting yourself, wondering if he likes you or if he thinks you're pretty. You start wearing and saying only things to impress him. Then, when you get the date, you spend the whole time wondering if he will kiss you goodnight or say anything to his friends about you. The idea of it all makes me want to gag. The point of dating is to find a spouse and I am not in the market for a spouse. I have seen what a spouse can do to a person and I have no desire to be weakened. I can't afford it. Ever since my dad died when I was sixteen, I've been holding up my family.

It's been about four years since his accident and I still have nightmares. My dad worked for a machinery company as did many of the town's population. When a piece of machinery overheated and caught the plant on fire, the school made an announcement about it, excusing students whose parents were working the current shift to go home and wait for news. I was sixteen so I picked Prim up from junior high and took her to the plant to watch the firemen put out the fire. Ambulances were loaded up all around but so far I hadn't see my father.

We had been standing there with the other families for hours. Slowly but surely it was just my mother, Prim and I along with the Hawthorns. Gale Hawthorn was a senior in high school at the time and he was probably the most popular guy in the school. His dark hair and the smattering of scruff across his chiseled jaw made all the girls drool. He looked like he was already in college by the time he graduated. I didn't know him very well at the time that our fathers died but he convinced me to lean on his proverbial shoulder and the year that followed my father's death is the year that I cringe when I remember how stupid and vapid and shallow I was. It's the year that I hope Prim never finds out about.

PRIM

Rory and I have been working non-stop to plan a double date that Katniss will agree to. I first offered her dinner and a movie with a Rory, myself and one of Rory's coworkers by the nickname of Marvel but upon hearing his name Katniss started laughing and she couldn't stop. Not wanting to embarrass Marvel, I told Rory I didn't think the match would be a good one. Rory was nice and did press the issue.

The next attempt we made was one my friend Rue's cousin, Thresh. When I told Katniss that Thresh was a fighter and he planned to someday be a famous on the wrestling channel she shook her head, scoffed and told me to try again.

Rory and I started asking everyone we knew who was within five years of Katniss's age and she turned down all of the dates. I started crying one day at the hopelessness of trying to find a guy that would tempt Katniss to double date. I think she heard me because she sighed really loudly. I am hoping that this next proposition will tempt her.

To figure out the type of guy Katniss might like I snooped in her bedroom. I found a few pairs of sexy underwear and I was about to consider my snooping a success when I discovered a box of photo deep in her underwear drawer. The photos were about four years old and I blanche at how different Katniss was. There was a smiling girl, her arms around some girls in the lunchroom. Katniss with her bow and arrow in archery classes. What really surprised me is that I could see when our father died. The photo Katniss started wearing darker clothes. The friends that she was photographed with changed from girls with brown bag lunches from their mothers to kids with self-Sharpied skin and mischievous glints in their eyes. I was 12 and I never saw this side of Katniss. She must have tried to be two different people. At school she changed into dark-Katniss and at home she continued to be the old Katniss.

I can see the death of our father and the loss of our mother weighing on Katniss. I flip the stack of photos like a story book. From happy, carefree Katniss to dark and rebellious Katniss to the stressed-out, practical Katniss I have now. The photos seem to stop about the time she turned seventeen. The last photo in the stack is a picture of Katniss in the school parking lot. She's sitting in the front middle seat of a vintage old pickup truck with a guy's arm draped around her shoulders. The arm belongs to none other than Gale Hawthorne, Rory's older brother. I know from Rory that Gale was a bit of a heartbreaker in high school but I didn't know that he and Katniss had known each well enough for them to be pictured together in his truck.

Putting the photographs back, I sneak into my room and call Rory. I uickly relate the information he had asked to find out. I tell him that I think Katniss's adversion to dating is not physical but mental or emotional (based on the panties I found). I tell him it looks like she was a normal girl until our father died. She had a brief stint of rebellion that was short lived when the money ran out from our father's life insurance and she had to take a night job after school to pay our bills and feed us since our mother was in a deep depression that she wouldn't snap out of.

When Rory hears that his brother was one of the people that Katniss hung out with, he offers to call Gale at college and ask about Katniss. I have a bad feeling when he talks about calling Gale but since I can't put my finger on why I have a bad feeling, I say nothing.

The next day at school Rory catches me in the hallway outside my French class and pulls me inside.

"I talked to Gale," he gushes. "I got the scoop and you will not believe what went on between our siblings."

I listen quietly to Rory as he tells me what Gale related. Gale, a senior at the time, befriended Katniss after our fathers' deaths. He was a popular jock and she was not. She had been going through a rebellious period where she did the opposite of everything he used to do before our father's death. Gale said that if she used to like white she now liked black. If she used to like smile, she now frowned. When Gale was able to convince her to start hanging out with his friends and listening to cool music, she seemed closer to the old Katniss. Not too long before Gale graduated, she broke up with him for no reason and left him heartbroken.

"She had to start working," I tell Rory. "The insurance money ran out and Mother wasn't able to work so Katniss started a job that summer working 60 hours a week to pay the bills and feed us. She cut her hours back to 40 on the night shift when school started and she has been like that ever since."

We both feel better having solved a piece of the mystery that is my sister. I start a list of things I know about Katniss so that I can properly plan a date that she will accept.

A few days later while Katniss is working, I sneak back into her room and write down a list of bands from her music collection and call Rory to give him their names. He uses his laptop to find a concert for a band that she had four of their CDs. Some band that I have never heard of called The Seam. Rory said that they aren't very popular and that tickets were cheap. He bought four tickets. We decided to tell Katniss that is was just the three of us since it won't really matter if she has a date in a mosh pit.

Katniss actually seems a little bit excited to hear that Rory got tickets to band that plays good music. Rory said Gale was really pleased to hear that Katniss would be "making a public appearance" as he put it. His plan was to meet us there with the ticket and to bump into us somewhere at the venue. I know Katniss will see through it but it will do her some good to be out. Maybe she and Gale will reconnect and double dating won't be an issue anymore. A girl can hope. My dating life depends on it.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Prim has been really good this past week. After I come home from classes, she has dinner on the stove and her homework already done. I appreciate this because it allows me to swallow a few bites before rushing off to work. Finding a job that made enough money and also allowed me to work after my classes was difficult. It isn't the best job and it's somewhat demanding of my patience but I make good money.

As a sixteen year old girl who needed to support my family, I took the first job I could find. I had asked the grocery store if they were hiring but the hours weren't enough to support my family. Even if they had wanted a sixteen year old with no experience, the walk there wouldn't allow me to start work until 4 and the store closed at 8. I wanted more opportunity to work so I started looking for places that had a nightshift. The thought of working at a factory terrified me so I started with the first place I came across that was likely to be open at night. The Hob.

The Hob was on the poor side of town and was a perfect walking distance away. It was open every day and was almost always closed during the times that I was t go to school. When I had first walked in I knew that bar would be trouble. There were a couple of old men seated at a table in the corner with a pitcher of beer between them, laughing boisterously and leaning on the table with their arms draped across the backs of their chairs. It was only five o'clock so I knew that these guys must be regulars. I stepped up the bar and waited for someone who worked there to approach and ask me what I wanted. It looked like there was no one working tonight and I shifted my weight impatiently. I had to find a job and I had no time to waste waiting on lazy workers.

"What you looking for? There's no milk on tap," one of the men in the corner said to me.

I glanced over my shoulder and saw that he was missing an arm up to the elbow. I turned back to the bar and kicked my foot out. "Hello?" I called out with hope that the worker in the back might hear me.

"I said there ain't no milk on tap," persisted the man.

This time I turned to face him. "Mind your own business."

"Oh! This one's a firecracker!" He nudged the other guy who set his pint glass down.

"What are you doing in a place like this, sweetheart?" said the other man.

"Don't call me sweetheart," I scowled at him. "And like I said, mind your own business."

A chuckle erupted from the man. His hair looked unwashed and his shirt hinted that it had been worn for a few days already. "How can I help you, Sweetheart?"

"I don't want your help," I said and then I'd turned back to the bar. "Hello? Does anybody actually work here?"

I heard a chair scrape across the floor behind me. The man with the missing arm had stayed seated and was drinking his beer again. The other guy stood about five feet away from me, leaning his arm on the bar.

"You'll be standing there all night asking for a worker to magically appear from back there."

"Just as well, this place is obviously ran by idiots who can't keep a worker on task," I spit out I had turned to leave to find another place to job hunt.

"Woah there, Sweetheart. Why do want to speak with a worker? Selling cookies? Haymitch won't buy Girl Scout cookies."

"Whoever this 'Haymitch' is must not take his business very seriously if he can't come out to greet a customer," I said tersely.

"You're not exactly a customer, though. Are you?" The man looked me up and down. Strangely it didn't make me feel dirty. He seemed to more or less be accessing me.

"What do you want with ol' Haymitch?" the missing arm guy spoke up. "I hear he's not much to talk to."

I sigh. "Look, I just wanted to find out if this place is hiring. That's all. But I can tell that this is not a place that takes business seriously so I'll just keep looking." I started for the door but a hand on my shoulder stopped me.

"You want a job? How old are you?"

Angrily, I jerked around yanking my shoulder out of his grasp in the process. "I'm sixteen and you're wasting my time. I need to find a job. I don't have time to entertain you."

"Easy, Sweetheart. I'm Haymitch and you have a temper. What's your name?"

Stunned, I gulped. "Katniss Everdeen."

The other guy slammed his glass down. "Not Fletcher's girl, are ya?"

I turned to him and nodded my head, curious as to how he knew my father.

"Knew your daddy for a long time. Sorry bout it, by the way."

I had gritted my teeth. I never know what to say when people talk about his death.

Haymitch kicked a stool out from the bar and motioned for me to sit. I did, calculating in my head if this was worth my time.

"Why do you want a job?" Haymitch grunted.

"I need money." I said.

A growl comes from Haymitch while a bark escapes the other guy. "Why here," Haymitch corrects himself. "You aren't even legal. What do expect me to allow you to do?"

"I need a job that I can work after school as much as possible. I assume a place like this is open later than the other stores in the area. I can wash dishes, wipe tables, clean toilets…" I trail off because I am unsure what a bar actually needs since I've never been in one.

I looked at Haymitch and he was looking at me with a scrutiny that made me uncomfortable. It was as if he could see through me.

"Fine. You're hired. Be here tomorrow around this time and I'll find something for you to do."

I've worked there ever since that day and I now know The Hob better than any other worker, even Haymitch. He had started me by washing the dishes and cleaning tables. When it was clear that it wasn't enough to keep me busy, Haymitch started letting me handle the prep work for the bar. When I was getting all of that done with time left over, I took on the inventory. When I turned 18 I was legally able to serve alcohol. Now I work mostly as the bartender but some days I waitress. Sundays are usually the days that I do inventory and handle ordering the supplies.

I see very little point in going to college. It seemed to simply be a formality for me. I can already run The Hob and with this experience I can work just about anywhere but an associate's degree in business management will help me get more money per hour from whatever job I hold. This is why I take three classes a semester. I already have 27 hours completed of the 60 that I need to earn my Associate's. I saved the three easiest classes for this summer and managed to get them done in the two months break between semesters. Most people said I was crazy not to take a break but the sooner I get my degree, the sooner I can earn higher wages.

I am barely making ends meet at home right now while saving for Prim's college. I really want to be able to pay for some of her college so she doesn't have to take out as many loans. She shouldn't have to be swamped with debt as soon as she becomes a doctor. I, on the other hand, have taken out a loan for every single class I have taken thus far and will continue piling on student loans. When I finish my degree, Prim will be ready to go to college and will able to do so with the money I have already saved. I am hoping she will never ask about my "scholarships". She doesn't need to know that I had to take out loans to get my degree. I hope she'll believe that the money I have been saving was money our father put into an account for her college. I plan to tell her some bullshit excuse about the lawyer telling us that the stipulation on the account would not allow her to access the money until she turned 18 and was only to be used for college. She'll never follow her dreams to be a doctor if she feels guilty about how she'll get the money to do it.

I am sure that we'll be able to get her a scholarship from someone to cover most of her degree. I hope. Since I was started working at The Hob, I have managed to save around $5,000. Some of that is interest earned by putting a CD on it. I am thankful that Finnick told me about them a couple years ago. It has easily made me enough money to pay for one semester of books for Prim.

When I arrive at The Hob for my shift, I see that even though it's a Tuesday around 7:00, the place is nearing capacity. I quickly throw my hoodie under the bar and tie my apron around the hips of my jeans. I see Johanna serving a group of what looks to be a bachelor party in the corner and Madge is taking an order from a couple of guys who just got off work and are here to unwind.

I wash my hands and start pulling out bottles of beer from under the counter as Jo calls them out to me. She disappears with the bottles and Madge requests a couple Rum and Cokes so I pull out the glasses and start pouring.

"How long have we been slammed?" I shout to her. The mixture of voices and the noise from the football game on TV makes it hard to hear when there are this many people crammed in The Hob.

"About 30 minutes or so. The bachelor party is about 25 of them. The rest are regulars."

I can already see that bar needs restocked from the rush. Neither Johanna or Madge really know much about being behind the bar so when there's no bartender here, they kind of grab things on the fly. I slowly am able to catch the bar up to being fully stocked with glasses and lemon wedges while continuing to make drinks. I am salting the rim of margarita glass when a voice shouts out, "whiskey sour" and so I turn around to face the voice.

"Sae. Good to see you." I give the older woman a nod and add a glass to the counter to make her drink.

The old woman nods her head at me while I start mixing the whisky sour. Sae is one of our steady customers. She would order different drinks to let me practice mixing when I had first turned sixteen, under the table and when we were completely alone, of course. Chaff, the missing arm guy I had met the night Haymitch hired me, also use to come around before business picked up and he would order beer-liquor combination drinks to give me practice. I'm not the best bartender that we have at The Hub but I make a better bartender than I do a waitress. My temper always gets the best of me when taking orders from men who want to flirt with me.

Around 9:30 I am surprised to see Finnick Odair walk in. He doesn't actually work here but he and Haymitch have a connection and Finnick often comes here to have a drink. If a bachelorette party ever comes in, we get Finnick to come serve them since he is a gorgeous male who gets all the ladies' attention. It took me a long time to understand Finnick but he is one of the few people who I like to talk to.

"Kitty Kat!" Finnick grins at me. He slaps a twenty down on the table. "Fill me up with ale!"

"Actually, Jo Madge and I are getting our asses slammed. Would you mind?"

"Say no more, Kitty Kat. I see a damsel in distress when there's one to be found."

In a matter of moments, Finnick has changed into the tight fitting black t-shirt that he keeps behind the bar for times like this. He takes on my task of mixing drinks while I grab a tray and a note book.

"Hold up," Finnick says. I can see the gum he is chewing on. I think the way he chews gum probably makes the girls melt in fascination but I am impervious to his charm. Instead I wrinkle my nose which causes Finnick to grin.

With a clean knife, Finnick approaches me. I take a step back from him. Finnick smiles crookedly. "I'm not going to hurt you, Kat. I'm just going to help fix your shirt. Those guys over there are here for a bachelor party. They want to see a little skin."

"I don't really care what they want, Finnick. I'm here to serve drinks and make money."

"Exactly," Finnick says triumphantly. "You want good tips?" Seeing me nod my head he continues. "Then let me fix your shirt."

Finnick takes the knife and cuts a four inch vertical line down the front of my shirt, all the way from the collar to where my bra meets my skin below my breasts. Then he turns the line into a v by cutting away two pieces of the shirt on either side of the line he just cut. I thought he was done but he grabs the bottom of my t-shirt and starts cutting off the bottom three inches. He ignores my protests and cuts all the way around until an inch of my stomach is visible when I raise my arms up.

Finnick whistles. "Damn, Kat. I think you owe me something for increasing your tips."

I scowl. "Don't count your chicken, pretty boy. I haven't made any yet."

"When you make double your usually amount, you owe me a drink on you," Finnick says with a smile.

I take the hand he has offered and we shake on it. It's an easy enough bet since most of Finnick's drinks are on Haymitch anyway.

"If I don't make more money than usual, you can't call me Kitty Kat anymore," I add to the bargin, his hand still clasping mine.

"For a week."

"For a month."

"Two weeks."

"Done."

I pick my tray and notebook and approach the table of bachelors since I see empty glass and Johanna and Madge are both occupied at other tables.

"Who needs a refill?" About 10 empty glasses are thrust into the air. The table erupts into a chorus of drink orders.

"Whoa!" I shout. One at a time. How bout you with the shades," I say pointing to the guy wearing sunglasses on top of his head. He rattles off his drink and I commit it to memory, stuffing the notebook in my back pocket.

I take about five drink orders that belong to 'shades', 'popped collar', mustache dude', buzz cut', and 'needs a shower' before smiling and promising to come back for the rest of the orders.

Finnick is pretty good at anticipating needs and lip reading and he has two of the simple beers poured by the time I get back. I add the drinks to the tab that the party opened and mix the fruity drink for 'popped collar' myself.

"You have to actually try to make tips, Katniss. The deal only works if you stay true to your cute little self while serving drinks."

I snort. Finnick reaches across the bar and snags the elastic off the end of my braid and yanks it out. He ignores my scathing remark as I try to snatch it back. "Trust me," is the only thing Finnick says before he goes back to filling drink orders.

I run my fingers through my braid and shake out my hair. I grab the handle of three drinks and hold the girly drink and bottle of beer in the other and make my way to the bachelor party.

I have never been a very feminine girl so I have no idea how to move my hips the way that other girls do or how to stand just right so that my breasts stick out enough to gain a man's attention but somehow a few of the guys in the party to watch me approach their table. I quietly set the drinks in front of their owners before I start taking more orders. This time there are more mixed drinks than there are drafts so I only take 'cocky grin', 'yellow t-shirt', and 'funny accents order' before disappearing back to the bar.

I mix a drink as Finnick makes the other two and then return them to the party. This time when I try to take the order from 'belched out loud' I feel a hand on the back of my thigh from one of the guys sitting next to where I am standing. I turn to look and see the bachelor of the party grinning at me.

"Could you please remove your hand, please?" I say in my nicest voice. The guy laughs his head off and squeezes my leg. "Come on, baby. I'm the bachelor. My boys and I just want some entertainment."

I hear a few of the guys laugh boisterously with him. I jerk my leg away from him. "Then may I suggest a strip club? This is a bar so you should treat your waitresses with respect if you want to receive service."

I leave the table and fix the three drinks myself since Finnick is busy flirting with a couple of females that came in and sat at the bar. One of them has heartache written all over her face.

I throw my hair over my shoulder as I furiously shake the contents inside the cocktail shaker. I feel a hand on my shoulder and I turn around angrily. I had been expecting to see the douchebag bachelor but instead I see one of the guys who I had not gotten the drink order of yet. He slides an empty glass across the bar to where a few others are gathered, waiting for busing.

"I want to apologize….for Cato," 'Blue eyes' tells me. I must have looked confused because he elaborates. "The bachelor he's…"

"A dick?" I suggest.

Blue eyes laughs. "To sum it up, yes. I don't condone his behavior at all but he is really drunk."

"So he never acts like a dick when he's sober?" I ask. I walk around the bar and throw the dirty glasses into the bus boy's tub after emptying the melted ice and stir sticks.

A laugh comes from blue eyes. "No. He's always a dick. Alcohol doesn't change that. It's just harder to reason with him when he is drunk."

I nod. Working in a bar for years has lent me enough experience in knowing how to deal with drunk people. "Must be a good friend of yours then if you are trying to apologize for him."

Blue eyes shakes his head. "No. His fiancée is my sister-in-law's sister. I got invited and my brother twisted my arm until I agreed to come. I don't even like Cato, to be honest." Clue eyes whispers this last part to be behind his hand as he were telling me a secret and I can't help but grin a little bit. I stuff a couple umbrellas in the three drinks I just made and blue eyes smiles at me.

"I admire your guts," he tells me as he nods his head to the girly touch I added to the drinks.

I smirk. "What can I get for you, while I'm back here?"

Blue eyes rattles off the name of a simple beer that we keep on tap and raise my eyebrow at him. "You don't want a Pina Colada or a Cosmopolitan or even a Black and Tan?"

I notice the dimple in his cheeks as he looks over his should at the bachelor party. He turns back around shaking his head. "I don't need to order anything fancy just because we're out at a bar to have a good time."

I nod my head and set his pint down on the bar in front of him. Before he picks it up, I drop an umbrella in it. I grab the other drinks off the bar and squeeze around him to go deliver them and I make sure not to look at him as I do so. His eyes are too blue to stare at for too long.

I manage to finish getting drinks to the rest of the guys in the party without Cato making another pass at me. I take a second behind the bar with Finnick during the lull to exchange a few words before taking his advice and smiling as I check on the bachelor party again. This time they are asking for pitchers of beer and plastic cups which I deliver along with a funnel and a set of ping pongs.

"We don't need those. One of us lost a bet and has to chug," says the guy whom I had mentally been calling 'popped collar'. As I look at him, I see the resemblance to 'blue eyes'. I smile and take the ping pong balls back to the bar. Again, 'blue eyes' jogs from the table to the bar where I stand on the opposite side of Finnick, who has been using his current status of bartender to allow the girl with short red hair to pour out her broken heart.

"Hey," Blue Eyes calls to me. "Look, I know I have no reason to ask you for a favor but I need help." He takes a breath as he plops down on a wooden bar stool. "See, Cato is making everyone participate in dares and I was the first to get dared and if I don't succeed, I have to chug a pitcher. I have a Saturday midterm tomorrow and I need to stay sober."

I reach up high to hang some wine glasses in the rack above the bar and I see his eyes slide down to the strip of my stomach that is visible. I tug at my shirt to pull it down which make Blue Eyes blush and look up at me.

"You got a name, Blue Eyes?"

"Peeta."

I smirk. "Like the bread?"

He smiles back and spells his name. "P-e-e-t-a but yes, it is also like the bread. My father's a baker. He has a funny sense of humor."

"What's 'popped collar's name?"

Peeta's dimple show as he smiles at me curiously. "Rye. Do you nickname everyone like that?"

I try to judge his face to decide if he is teasing or curious. I shrug my shoulders. "It's a waitressing trick to help remember orders. You have to name them by their most prominent feature or characteristic."

There's a moment of silence as I mix another whiskey sour and slide it down the length of the bar to Sae who grins a toothless smile at me before turning back to the tv that has the news on it.

"So what's this bet and how am I supposed to help, Blue Eyes?"

Peeta fidgets. "I need your name, number or a physical display of affection to prove that I can flirt with someone successfully."

"That's it?" I have seen some pretty disgusting dares before and I was expecting Peeta to ask me not to call the cops as he streaks through the bar or something equally gutsy.

"Yeah. That's my dare." Peeta is looking inside his pint at the last few swigs before downing it.

Thinking quickly, I lean closer to his ear while looking like I'm wiping the bar in front of him. "My coworker has dared me to wear my shirt like this and my hair down so that I can earn more tips. If I earn double my normal tips looking like this then I owe him a drink. If he loses the bet then he has to stop calling me by that stupid nickname he gave me. For two weeks, anyway."

Peeta smiles. "Are you trying to lose or win?"

It's a good question but as much I would love for Finnick to only be allowed to call me Katniss, I need the money more.

"I guess I need Finnick to win the bet," I say as I stand up. "Will helping you with your dare help me win my bet?"

"I think that sounds like a great deal!"

"Run on back to the bachelor party and I'll rescue you in another hour or so."

Peeta smiles and slips off the bar stool and rejoins the bachelor party. I hear a few groans and whistles as the bachelor party holds chugging contests. Five glasses are slammed on the table and "buzz cut" is declared the winner. I watch Madge smile and gather empty glasses from them.

I take a minute to run the dishes to the back and send them through the dishwasher. When I come back out, Johanna is sitting on the lap of one of the guys at the bachelor party and she is laughing while stroking his arm. I see a few dollars get shoved in the pocket of her apron by the guy as she stands up with his empty glass and makes her way back to the bar.

"Those guys are extra amped up," Jo says as she tells me her order. I pour a few liquors into the glass and add some Red Bull and hand it back.

"Here," I say thrusting a special drink that I invented. "Take this to 'Blue Eyes' over there, please. Can you be sure to tell him it's "on the house" and point to me all giggly-like?"

I see Jo raise her eyebrows at me in a silent question. Knowing she won't leave it at that, I add, "He asked me to flirt with him in front of the bachelor party to avoid losing a dare."

"Yeah, I am sure that's why he wants you flirting with him, Brainless."

I ignore Jo and pour some pretzels into a large bowl and set it on the bar. I learned a long time ago that offering some pretzels will help keep people from blowing chunks in the bar if they are chugging on an empty stomach.

Keeping an eye on the bachelor party, I work while I wait for Johanna to set Peeta's drink down. When she does, Peeta looks up at me and grins. I smile back as best I can and waggle my fingers at him before I wink and go about my work.

I cut some more lemon and lime wedges and refill the cherries. I grab the fresh glasses from the dishwasher and put them back on the shelves. I try to pump a draft for one of our regulars and realize the keg must be empty. I go to the back and get the dolly.

When I detach the empty keg and wedge the dolly under it, I see a strong arm reach around me and grasp the dolly firmly. I turn to see if Finnick finally stopped playing Dr. Phil with Foxface at the bar.

"Should you be lifting something this heavy?" Peeta asks with concern on his face?

"Should you be this involved with a waitress when there's a group of rowdy boys over there buying you free drinks?"

Silence. Peeta grasps the dolly and starts to pull it out of the bar but I set my foot down in front of it.

"Look, I'm not really a feminist but there's just something about having a guy tell you that you aren't strong enough to do something. Go back to your party and let me work."

Peeta lets go of the dolly and steps back. "That isn't it at all. I just think that men should take care of women. From what I've seen I think you can take care of yourself. Seems to me like you take care of yourself very well. Do you ever let someone else do something nice for you?"

I grunt as I step on the dolly and tip it back. "I don't get many princes trying to rescue me from empty kegs, no. So yes, it is a strange occurrence and therefore I haven't let anyone help me."

"I didn't mean just with lifting empty kegs."

I shoot him a look and see him looking directly at me. The special drink I gave him has a little more alcohol content than the average fruity drink. Liquid courage.

"Look, if I'd known that flirty with you to help you out would come with a lecture on how I live my life-"

"Can we start over?" Peeta asks. "I just meant to say that while you are doing the heavy work, your male bartender might be doing this for you to be a gentleman but he seems busy so may I help? When I turned 12 I would get stuck lifting the flour bags while my 18 and 14 year old brothers did the easy work. I have a soft spot on the subject."

With a sigh, I tell him, "No. Haymitch might fire me if you pull a muscle lifting things and decide to sue him. But thank you for the offer."

Peeta's eyes follow me as I take the empty keg to the backroom. The truck will load it up on Monday and send it back filled on Wednesday.

I break a sweat loading the full keg on the dolly and end up grabbing the back brace off the hook before trying to push the thing into the front.

When I manage to push the keg through the swinging door I see that Peeta has stayed glued to his spot at the bar. He actually makes to get up and come to help me before he sits on his hands.

I maneuver the keg into the bar and Finnick scolds me for not telling him it was out. I glance at Peeta from behind the curtain of my hair and see him smiling smugly at me.

I hook up the keg and pull the tap to let some of the head flow out into a pitcher.

"Hey, waitress, hook us up with a few rounds of shots!"

I look up from the tap and see the bachelor leering at me. I look for Johanna but she's on a smoke break. Madge is busy taking care of the rest of the customers and Finnick is wiping his hands off and preparing to leave for the night, now that business has calmed down.

"What kind of shots?" I call out to the bachelor. Cato, I think Peeta called him?

"Tequila!"

"Which brand?" I ask pointing out about 4 different brands.

Cato looks at them then asks me, "Which do you like best?"

Having never actually tasted alcohol despite working at a bar, I answer, "This one, for sure." It's the most expensive tequila we offer and we make a decent profit from it.

"We'll take a shot of that for everyone, then."

"Is this all on the same tab?" I ask as I pull out the tab to add the cost.

Cato nods. "Yeah. It's all on my in-laws. Great party or what?"

Shaking my head, I fess up. "This type of tequila is going to be about $7.50 a shot. You still want it?"

Cato nods his head. "Her parents are loaded. They won't even care."

I start loading up a tray with shot glasses. I pour them carefully making sure to put water in the last one.

I skillfully set the tray of shots down on the table across from the bachelor party and start passing out shots. I save Peeta for last and hand him the water.

I have just made it back to the bar when I hear them cheer and clink the shots glasses together. I turn to see Peeta grimace and throw his shot back like the rest of them. His eyes flash in surprise. He looks over to me and mouths a thank you to me. I smile and turn back to the bar. Getting the tray loaded back up with shot glasses for when they decide to do round two.

"Did you hear who the bachelor is marrying?" Madge asks me quietly.

I shake my head as I pour some ice water and hand it to her to drink. Madge takes a grateful sip. "Clove Snow."

My hands grip the edge of the bar. Snow.

"You mean….his daughter?"

Madge nods and says nothing. Snow owns the factory that my father use to work at. The fire that killed my father and ruined my family did very little to harm Snow's business. Accidents are famous at Snow Industries but somehow they stay in business.

"Snow never had any sons so he has to pass it off to his son-in-law. I heard rumor that Clove never even got a say-so in her prospective husband when the search began.

It makes sense. Cato already seems like the perfect son-in-law to learn Snow's family business.

I approach the bachelor party again and lay my hand on the shoulders of a couple of the guys. "What else can I get you guys?"

The night flies by with shots and drinks being ordered constantly. The men's room is always in use with as many men as are drinking beer. Finnick leaves at ten and I send Madge home around midnight knowing that she has something to do tomorrow. Our regulars leave slowly throughout the night until finally its 1:30 and the only people in The Hob are the members of the bachelor party. I tell Johanna she can go home after she helps me hand out last rounds.

I turn out the lights on the side of the bar that is empty and start turning chairs over on their tables. Since tomorrow is Saturday, the floor will get mopped in the morning before The Hob opens up for Saturday football games as it does in the fall and winter.

While wiping down the bar and stacking the last remaining glasses into the dishwasher, I see some of the bachelor party starting to get up and stagger to the door. I offer to call a cab but they all wave me off on their way out the door.

I bite my lip as I ring up the tab. I have never in all of my life seen a bigger tab. I set the receipt and the credit card down on the bar. $836! Haymitch is going to shit a brick when he hears about the money we made tonight.

Cato doesn't really look like he can focus as he stares at the receipt.

"Want some help, man?" Peeta offers. Cato takes the card off the counter and signs the bottom. "Fill in the blank for me, dude. I need to piss."

'Shades' steps up and supports Cato to the men's room.

Peeta hands me the pen and the bar's copy of the receipt. I set it in the register before I grab the buser's tub and set to collect empty glasses off the table. I find a couple crumpled dollars here and there but none of it is anything more than what they might've had in change at the bottom of their pockets.

I stuff the bills into my apron and shove the glasses and bits of pretzel into the tub. I hear Cato and 'Shades' leave the bar and I look up to see that Peeta is sitting at the bar watching me clean.

"Do you need me to call a cab?"

With a shake of his head, Peeta says, "No. I just wanted to let you know that I appreciate your help."

I nod my head and watch as he leaves.

It takes about another half hour to clean up the place. I went ahead and swept and mopped the entire place out of courtesy for Thom who will be opening for the lunch crowd.

The only thing left to do is to balance the drawer. When I total up the drawer I look at the receipt for the bachelor party and see that Cato let Peeta give me $164 tip! I also notice that there is a phone number on the back with a little sketch of me mixing drinks. Peeta also wrote "Thank you" underneath the sketch.

I rip off my "new" uniform shirt and toss it and my apron into the hamper of rags. I throw on a shirt that I keep under the bar just in case someone spills a drink on me.

The bus ride home is quiet. I am the only passenger and I relish the quiet. When I arrive at my house, I quietly shower off and slip into bed without eating anything. My mind won't turn off. Tomorrow is the day that Prim will have her date with Rory and even though I know she went through my stuff to figure out what type of music I like, I am a little bit excited to be going to see a concert for my favorite band.

Reviews are always nice and they help an author want to write more, quickly. Be helpful and say something specific that you liked or didn't like about the chapter or story.


End file.
